Eye Injuries and Related Risk Factors among Workers in Small-scale Industrial Enterprises

ABSTRACT

Purpose

We aimed to study eye injuries and their risk factors among workers at small-scale industrial enterprises.

Methods

Cross-sectional descriptive study. Five hundred workers at small-scale industrial enterprises in Al-Ain City, United Arab Emirates were included. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect data by direct interviews during the period of October 2018 through June 2019. The outcome measures included self-reported eye injuries, risk factors, and outcomes in the past 12 months. The study adhered to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Results

One-hundred seventy-five (35%) workers reported eye injury, 25 (14.3%) had recurrent injuries. Twenty-five (15%) received treatment for eye injury. Five percent were hospitalized. Workers who had an eye injury were less educated compared with those who did not (p < .0001), received less safety training (p < .0001), had less work experience (p < .0001), used more spectacle correction glasses (p < .0001), and had less usage of the safety eye goggles and safety eyeglasses (p < .0001) compared with those who had no eye injury. Arc welding (76; 43.4%), chipping (25; 14.3%), and drilling (24; 13.7%) were associated with high risk for eye injury. Twenty-eight percent of eye injuries occurred to observers or working assistants.

Conclusions

This study has shown a high percentage of eye injury incidents among workers at small-scale industrial enterprises. This was associated with low usage of the safety eye goggles and glasses. Arc welding posed significant risks for eye injury. This information is useful for safety promotion and development of work-related eye injury prevention legislations.

KEYWORDS:

• Eye injury
• risks
• industrial workers
• arc welding
• personal protective eyewear

Declaration of interest

Authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Meeting presentation

Presented at UAEU Annual Research & Innovation Conference, February 4–5, 2020, UAE.

Submission statement

This submission has not been published anywhere previously and that it is not simultaneously being considered for any other publication.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by United Arab Emirates University, Zayed bin Sultan Center for Health Sciences [Grant G00002674, Fund # 31R139].